Chapter 19: I—Am the Strongest Creature Alive!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Within the blazing inferno of the Dragon's Breath, explosions roared endlessly.
Shukaku tried to flee, tried to defend himself—
but it was useless.
His colossal body of sand was beginning to crumble apart.
High above, the divine dragon that was Aoyama Ryūun beat its wings,
cutting off the torrent of fire.
With a single sweep of its mighty tail,
it smashed through the last of the sand swirling around Shukaku.
And then—
the One-Tail's body collapsed,
dispersing into a cascade of golden-brown dust.
"Impossible!"
"T-that thing… is it even human?!"
While the Konoha forces erupted in cheers,
the ninja of Sunagakure stood frozen, their eyes wide with disbelief.
The monster they had revered as an unstoppable calamity—
defeated so easily?
It defied reason.
Now, as they looked up,
a massive divine dragon—tens of meters long—
soared majestically among the clouds.
"Huuh… huuh…"
Reforming himself from the drifting sand,
Shukaku no longer carried his former arrogance.
His copper-colored eyes gleamed with pure wariness
as he stared up at the dragon circling in the sky.
That thing…
was definitely not a tailed beast.
Then, Ryūun's voice thundered across the battlefield, shaking the air itself.
"Now this—this is what it means to be the strongest creature of land, sea, and sky!"
The divine dragon let out a mighty roar
and dived down from the heavens toward Shukaku once more!
"Don't you dare underestimate a tailed beast!"
As the proud One-Tail,
Shukaku could not—would not—bow down,
even when faced with such overwhelming power.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Explosions ripped across the desert
as the two colossal beings clashed again and again.
The dragon's claws—its tail—
struck Shukaku's massive body relentlessly,
each blow shaking the earth like thunder.
"Damn you!"
Shukaku's eyes blazed with fury.
Suddenly, around him, chakra began to condense—
thick, visible streams of raw energy swirling together
in front of his gaping maw.
The chakra mass grew larger and denser by the second—
a dark sphere of pulsating energy taking form.
"A Tailed Beast Ball, huh?"
Even his ultimate move had been forced out.
But did Aoyama Ryūun intend to dodge it?
Of course not.
While Shukaku gathered chakra,
flames flickered along the dragon's mouth—
brighter, fiercer, hotter than before.
"Die!"
"Dragon's Breath!"
Two ultimate forces collided.
The desert's already-scorching air flared even hotter,
as a blinding light devoured the sky.
"I am… the strongest creature alive!"
Roaring, Aoyama Ryūun poured every ounce of power into the attack.
The Dragon's Breath surged—
its inferno overwhelming the Tailed Beast Ball,
engulfing Shukaku completely!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions thundered one after another inside the firestorm.
"AAAHHH!"
Shukaku's screams echoed through the desert—
then grew fainter… and fainter…
until they vanished entirely.
When the flames finally subsided,
the battlefield was silent.
Shukaku's body had disappeared.
The One-Tail had been utterly destroyed.
Of course, tailed beasts never truly die—
soon enough, Shukaku would reform somewhere within the vast desert.
But for now, Sunagakure's greatest weapon was gone.
And with Shukaku's fall,
its jinchūriki—Bunpuku—had perished as well.
Sunagakure now faced a grim reality:
they would need not only to re-seal the One-Tail,
but also to find a new host.
"Impossible…"
The Third Kazekage stood stunned.
Their ultimate weapon—
defeated so completely?
Blood streaked his armor,
the result of countless slashes from Hatake Sakumo's blade.
Meanwhile, watching the dragon hovering in the sky,
Tsunade smiled.
Shukaku had fallen—
and her faith in Aoyama Ryūun had once again been proven right.